This application claims priority to European Patent Application No. 00102471.0 filed on Feb. 4, 2000.
The invention relates to an insulation-displacement terminal contact, for example for modular terminals, which has a slotted, sprung contact region as a contact-making slot on a connecting bracket, which contact region is surrounded and reinforced by an outer spring clip.
The material of the spring clip can be matched to the spring characteristics, and the contact region in the connecting bracket can be matched to its electrically conductive characteristic.
If the cutting blades form an inlet region in front of the contact-making slot, the limbs of the connecting bracket point toward one another on the contact-making slot. It has been found that, in practice, the normal manufacturing tolerances mean that it is not always possible to ensure that the limbs lie in a plane. Without increasing the production cost by reducing the tolerances, it is possible in practice for the limbs to slide past one another, with an offset. This results in the connection relationships not being ensured uniformly.
One embodiment of the invention is developing the insulation-displacement terminal contact described initially further so that constant connection characteristics are ensured with normal manufacturing tolerances.
According to the invention, the described aspect of the invention is achieved by an insulation-displacement terminal contact. In this case, the cutting blades project toward one another behind their inlet region. Since the cutting blades are produced from the spring clip, or are at least rigidly connected to the spring clip, this makes it possible to ensure that the cutting blades project toward one another in a plane. The cutting blades can also be designed to be relatively flat in this region, so that they still project toward one another reliably, even slightly offset.
It is advantageous if the cutting blades have a profile which is stepped toward the front face, on their rear face, related to their front face with the conductor inlet, such that they engage with this profile in a corresponding profile in the connecting bracket and can open the latter when they are themselves forced apart from one another and are opened by a conductor being inserted. This avoids the need for an inlet region in the contact-making slot, so that, when a previously connected conductor is removed, it cannot hook itself behind the shoulder of blades.
It is also advantageous if, the end edges of the cutting blades project in front of the spring clip with respect to the conductor inlet. In consequence, a conductor which is to be inserted cannot become hooked on the front end faces of the spring clip. In fact, it is cleanly guided to the contact-making slot in the insertion region in the cutting blades.
All of these described embodiments jointly have the advantage that the cutting blades can be manufactured from a harder material than the material of the connecting bracket in the contact-making slot. During production of an insulation-displacement terminal contact of the described type, it is advantageous if the connecting bracket engages in the region of its contact-making slot in a support on the spring clip. The connecting bracket can be fixed on the support in the spring clip using a scraping technique. In the process, the material of the spring clip is crushed down onto the connecting bracket, like a scraper. The connecting bracket is in consequence connected to the spring clip without any play, thus avoiding tolerances such as those which can occur with window-like apertures.
The insulation-displacement terminal contact can be used in a connecting terminal, possibly with further insulation-displacement terminal contacts. The connecting terminals can be in the form of a modular terminal.